Possessing a usable quantity of marijuana, knowingly or intentionally, is an offense under Texas Health & Safety Code Section 481.121, and the amount sets the grade.¹ More than four ounces up to five pounds is a state jail felony, the lowest felony grade, punishable by 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000.² Four ounces is the line that separates a county-court misdemeanor from a felony filed in a district court, which is why an accurate weight matters from the start.

What makes a marijuana case different from almost any other charge is that the State now has to prove what the plant material actually is. After the 2019 hemp law, Texas defines marijuana by its Delta-9 THC concentration, and material at or below the legal threshold is hemp, not marijuana. Because marijuana and legal hemp cannot be told apart by sight or by smell, the Bexar County laboratory quantifies the Delta-9 THC in a submitted sample, and the weighed amount only matters once the material is confirmed to be marijuana at all.

Marijuana possession is one statute with a sliding scale set by weight, and the same conduct can be charged anywhere from a Class B misdemeanor to a first-degree felony. These are the variants a state jail felony case turns on.

The weight ladder

Section 481.121 grades possession by amount: two ounces or less is a Class B misdemeanor;³ more than two ounces up to four ounces is a Class A misdemeanor;⁴ more than four ounces up to five pounds is the state jail felony charged here;¹ more than five pounds up to 50 pounds is a third-degree felony; more than 50 pounds up to 2,000 pounds is a second-degree felony; and more than 2,000 pounds is a first-degree felony.¹ Because both the four-ounce floor and the five-pound ceiling of this tier are charging lines, the weighed amount can move the case down to a misdemeanor or up to a third-degree felony.

When the charge is delivery rather than possession

Possession and delivery are separate offenses. Delivery of marijuana is charged under a different section and is graded on its own scale by amount,⁵ and an allegation of delivery, or of possession with intent to deliver, raises the exposure well above a possession charge at the same weight. How the State has characterized the conduct is a threshold question, because the quantity in this range is the kind prosecutors sometimes read as more than personal use.

When state jail felony punishment can be reduced

A state jail felony is the one felony grade Texas lets a court punish as a misdemeanor. Under Section 12.44, a court may punish a state jail felony as a Class A misdemeanor, and in some cases reduce the offense itself to a misdemeanor.⁶ Whether that path is available is decided from the record and the person's history, not assumed.

A state jail felony marijuana case rarely involves the people the felony label brings to mind. It reaches students, working people, and people carrying an amount for personal use, most of whom have never faced a felony before. For them the shock is the word felony attached to a plant that is legal in much of the country.

The consequences reach past the sentence. A drug conviction can be a basis for removal for a noncitizen under federal immigration law,⁷ it costs federal student financial aid, it ends firearm eligibility, and it closes the door on a long list of professional licenses. A marijuana conviction also carries a separate driver's license suspension. Because the charge is a felony, those collateral effects attach even when the actual jail exposure is modest, which is why how the case is resolved matters.

The 180-day-to-two-year range and the $10,000 fine in Section 12.35 are only the criminal side.² A felony drug conviction is a permanent record that reads, to employers, landlords, licensing boards, and immigration authorities, as a felony involving a controlled substance, and that reading is what does the lasting damage.⁷ A conviction also brings a driver's license suspension and can reach federal student aid and public-housing eligibility, consequences separate from anything the criminal court imposes.

There are paths that avoid that permanent felony. Texas allows deferred adjudication, which holds the case open under supervision and avoids a final conviction on successful completion under Article 42A.102.⁸ At sentencing, Section 12.44 lets a court punish this state jail felony as a Class A misdemeanor, and in some cases reduce the offense itself to a misdemeanor.⁶ Bexar County also runs a misdemeanor pretrial diversion program, and where the weight or the chemistry is in doubt the offense level itself can be in play. Which of these fits a given case is a fact-specific question answered from the record, not a promise.

A marijuana case is built out of two records above all: how the material was found, and what the laboratory says it is. What a person does in the first days affects both. The most common and most costly mistake is talking the officers through the stop, the car, or the bag without a lawyer present, because those statements are written down and used.

A few steps help in nearly every case. Say nothing about the material or the search beyond identifying information, and ask for a lawyer. Write down everything remembered about the stop while it is fresh: where it happened, what was said, whether consent to search was asked for or given, and who was present. Keep every document from the arrest. Do not contact anyone the police mention as a witness.

This is general information about how these cases work in Texas. It is not legal advice about any specific case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

A felony runs a longer course than a misdemeanor because it passes through the grand jury before it reaches a trial court. Knowing the order of events makes the wait less frightening and the decision points easier to see.

Arrest and magistration

After an arrest, the person is brought before a magistrate who gives the statutory warnings and sets bond, ordinarily within 48 hours, under Article 15.17.⁹ Conditions of release are often set at this stage.

The grand jury and indictment

Before a felony can proceed to trial, the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney presents it to a grand jury, which decides whether to return an indictment.¹⁰ This is the stage where a well-prepared packet can matter most, because a grand jury can decline to indict or return a lesser charge, and a weight near the four-ounce line is exactly the kind of question that can move a case down to a misdemeanor.

Filing in a district court

An indicted felony is filed into one of the Bexar County district courts, which have jurisdiction over felony cases,¹¹ through the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center on Dolorosa Street.¹² The district courts sit in the Paul Elizondo Tower at 101 W. Nueva.

Pretrial settings and discovery

The case proceeds through pretrial settings at which the State produces its evidence, the offense report, the body-worn camera video, and the laboratory analytical record, under the discovery statute, Article 39.14.¹³

Resolution

A state jail felony marijuana case can resolve by dismissal, by suppression of the search, by a reduction to a misdemeanor where the weight or the chemistry supports it, by deferred adjudication under Article 42A.102,⁸ by a Section 12.44 reduction to misdemeanor punishment,⁶ or at trial. Which routes are realistic depends on the record.

A felony marijuana case does not carry the fast administrative clock a DWI does, but timing still decides what evidence survives and what options remain open.

Forrest Good PLLC works a felony marijuana case in the same documented order regardless of the amount. The first pass is the Fourth Amendment timeline: the reason for the stop, the scope of the detention, the scope of any search, whether there was consent or a warrant, and whether the stated probable cause survives the reality that marijuana and legal hemp cannot be identified by sight or by smell. The body-worn camera and dash-camera video are the primary record of what happened, and the offense report is read against that video rather than the other way around.

The second pass is the chemistry and the weight. The Bexar County laboratory analytical record carries the substance identification, the testing method, the Delta-9 THC quantification that decides whether the material is marijuana at all, and the weight that decides whether the case sits in the felony range or below it. The third pass is the motion calendar: a motion to suppress the search, discovery enforcement under Article 39.14,¹³ and motions in limine. The fourth pass is resolution: a reduction to a misdemeanor where the weight or chemistry supports it, a Section 12.44 reduction to misdemeanor punishment,⁶ deferred adjudication under Article 42A.102,⁸ a plea to a reduced charge, or trial. Each option carries its own immigration, licensing, and record consequences, which the client decides on after Forrest Good PLLC walks through what each one means.

The hour estimate

Forrest Good PLLC estimates this matter at 20 to 35 hours of attorney time, billed at $250 per hour. The lower end reflects a case that resolves before indictment or at an early district-court setting, often on a weight or chemistry issue; the upper end reflects a contested search, an independent review of the laboratory work, a disputed weight near a charging line, and extended pretrial litigation. The pricing methodology explains how the charging instrument, the evidence load, and the procedural stakes drive the estimate.

The flat fee and what it covers

The starting flat fee is $7,500. It covers magistration follow-up and bond conditions, the pre-indictment grand jury packet, every district-court pretrial setting, review of the offense report and the laboratory analytical record including the Delta-9 THC quantification and weight verification, the Fourth Amendment timeline, the Section 12.44 reduction analysis, full pretrial motion practice including suppression and discovery enforcement under Article 39.14,¹³ and negotiation through trial-court disposition. The fee shown here is honored while this page is published, consistent with Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.02(d).¹⁵

Any work outside the scoped fee is billed at $250 per hour and is disclosed in the written engagement letter before it begins. The engagement letter is the binding contract for the matter.

The first step is a conversation. The initial 30-minute consultation with Forrest Good PLLC is free and is scheduled through the office's Google Booking page. It is the time to walk through the stop, the search, the offense report, and the laboratory record, and to look at where the weight sits relative to the four-ounce and five-pound charging lines before any setting. Bringing those documents makes the half hour far more useful.

No attorney-client relationship is formed until a written engagement letter is signed; the consultation itself carries no obligation.

Schedule Your Free Consultation